, 1887-05-24
PANTHER ONTHE WATCH

NtlAllIt5 III WIN IIet anu 4 dShVu MN 10
name the closest call he ever had.
"Well, the highest squeeze 1 ever had
came about in q queer manner =" he re-
piled. 81 had come home to Minnesota to
get well OF q stab given me in an Indian
fight in western Dakota, and the wound
was yet sore when a friend and myself
got out our traps together and went up
among the lakes forming the source Of the
uppc Mississippi river to have a hunt. 1t
was about the middle of September when
we got into camp, and my strange ad-
venture began almost at once. We pitched
upon our site for a camp about 10 O'Clock
in the morning, and Oefore night had our
shanty completed. The hard work of the
day irritated my wound and made me fever
ish, and about 10 O'Clock at night, as we
were ready to turn in, / took the pail and
started to the spring for some water. The
spring was about 300 feet away. with
open woods between. The night was clear
and still, with a light frost beginning to
fail, and the slightest noise could be heard.
When / was half way to the spring |
heard q ~chipmunk, weasel or some small
animal of the sort running on the leaves a
hundred feet away, and the cound5 nctu-
ally startled me. Then / heard q SOUR
rel run mp n tree, and 1 followed him afar
up the branches by tho sounds of his
claws on the bark believe that the re-
lVA - - AAAS Soho AAFO ~ CdA NAACC
miles on such q night.
II reached the spring, dipped up IA pail
Of water and drank heartily, and then
stood for a moment enjoying the night
and the appalling stiffness. Presently |
heard a peculiar sound down beyond the
spring. l can't tell you why or how /
knew the sound was made by some wild
beast dropping to the ground from n tree,
but that was my impression. II was a
ely action m the mart Of fhn haauf mud nm
a windy night could not have been heard
twenty feet. 1t went through me like a
dash that a panther which had been roost-
ing in one Of the big trees Just across the
open space beyond the spring had dropped
down to attack me, and I started for the
shanty like q streak of lightning. / had
made no mistake in jumping to con-
illusions. AS 1 bolted away u horrible
scream overlook me, and / made clean
jumps of ten feet after that. We had q
couple of hounds at the cabin, and they
were curled up and asleep when / left 1t.
The yell of the panther brought 'em out
mighty sudden, and l suppose this saved
my life. That beast wasn't thirty feet
behind me when the hounds met and
passed me, and next instant there was q
shindy which would nave made your hair
stand up. / jumped into the door of the
shanty just in time to collide with my
partner and roll us both on the floor, and
before we could get our guns and get out
the affair was over-that Is, one of our
dogs had been chawed to death, the other
half killed and the panther had made of.
1t was certainly a narrow escape for me,
and | was weak in the knees when 1 came
to think 1t over.
eve did not hear from the beast again
for three days. We put out ninety traps
along the swamps and creeks, and found
abundance of game in the woods. On the
fourth day, about 10 O'Clock in the morn
ing, while my partner was cleaning his
gun and dressing off some rabbits for din
ner, l went out to look at some traps set
the night before. My route was along the
swamp shores of a small lake, and it WAS
n cloudy day with n cold wind blowing. 1
had my gun on my shoulder as 1 tramped
along, and l had passed the third trap
without finding any victims, when l came
under q large tree. AS l was not looking
for live game l had not surveyed the
limbs above me. The space between the
tree and the water was not over ten feet,
and l was looking ahead to locate the
next trap when l stepped into a hole and
fell sprawling. fall probably saved
my life. i felt something Craze me as |
went down, there was a horrible snarl in
my ears, and hat Internal panther
pumped into the water with a great
splash. l had a shotgun with me, and 1t
was loaded for small game. 1 was up be
fore you could count fifteen. My fall had
flung the gun several feet away, and as
soon as / could seize 1t / looked for the
panther. Missing his spring the way he
did probably disconnected him, and his
cold bath cooled his enthusiasm. He
fouudered around, climbed back to dry
land, and after indulging in a shake to get
rid OF the water, he growled at me and
disappeared among the bushes. 1 sent the
charge Of shot after him, but he probably
got of scot free.
well, 1 got 1t into my head that that
varmint was after me and nobody else.
My partner had not even got a glimpse of
him, while he had twice attacked me. l
Just left the traps and made q bee lie for
the shanty, and that afternoon we set a
trap in the woods to catch his highness.
The other dog was about dead OF his
terrible wounds, and we finished him and
used him to bait our trap. Two days and
nights went by and nothing further was
heard of the panther. Then my scare be-
gan to go off, and I set out to look over
half our traps, while my partner took the
other half. I took further around the
lake than before, and Mt IL O'Clock iu the
forenoon l was through with the last
trap and loaded down with game. As /
couldn't carry the load back to the shanty,
/ sat down on q log to shuck some OF the
mink and rats, and pretty soon l had for
gotten all about the panther. was near
the butt Of the log or fallen tree, the other
end OF which was very bushy. l had my
back TO this, and had worked for half an
hour when 1t struck me powerful hard
and all OF a sudden that / was in danger.
1t was like q voice calling TO me, and at
the same moment a chiu Travelled up my
back. wheeled square about, and there
was that Internal panther creeping down
the trunk as softly as a cat to get
nigh enough to spring on me. AT my
motion he stopped short with q spit and a
snarl, and CREASED lightning was no where
compared to my movements. My gun
was loaded with buckshot this time, and
] lifted her up and fired at him from a
distance of about forty feet. He was hit
by one or two of the shot, and the scream
he gave was heard by my partner three
quarters OF n mile AWAY. As Re screamed
he made a flying leap to another log, and
from that he went into the underbrush.
do you want to know how far a
panther can jump when he lets himself
OUT l measured the distance from log 10
log with a tape line, and Il was thirty-four
feet TO q dot. l was looking dead at him,
and know he didn't touch the ground